DAROS ~ MINILESSON #2

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FOCUS STUDENTS

M is a little African American boy in 2^nd grade. He is at a 1^st grade level, however, in reading and writing. He came to FV elementary about half-way through the first semester of class from Flint. He often has difficulty sitting still for long periods of time. He has also been known to quickly give up on an assignment and ask for help when he does know how to accomplish it. Sometimes I wonder if he just wants attention because once you walk over and talk to him about questions he has, he knows to do the assignment. Unfortunately, the day before I did my lesson, M was suspended, so he wasn’t there when I did my mini lessons, I could only do them with J.

J is also a little African American boy in 2^nd grade. He is at a 1^st grade level, however, in reading and writing. He came to FV elementary about half-way through the second semester of class, so I haven’t known him as long as I have known many of the other students. Because he is behind the rest of the class, I have worked with him one on one a few times or with M who is also behind. They have seats in the back of the classroom where they can get differentiated instruction consistently. He likes to walk around a lot and he tries to get out of the classroom by saying he has to go to the bathroom. I did this lesson with only J because M wasn’t there and because he really needed the help.

I know that this lesson is necessary and appropriate for these learners needs because they both need help reading. Having strategies in reading will help students become more motivated, especially if the strategy is fun, and will provide a way for students to gain confidence because they have ways to understand what they are reading and not continuously be fighting to catch up with the rest of the students.

When I asked my CT what she wanted me to do with my mini-lessons she said that it was completely up to me, so I based them off what I observed in the class and what I thought would be important for my students.

TE 402 READING LESSON PLAN

Daros Reading Lesson Plan # 2

Your Name: Kayla Daros Grade Level: 2^nd/3^rd Split

Date lesson was taught: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 Number of Students: 1

1) Rationale (What evidence do you have that your focus students need to learn this skill/strategy?):

It is important for students to have different strategies for reading comprehension, and I think that making predictions is a really fun way to do that, especially in a group setting because the students all come up with really fun and interesting ideas, and anyway to make reading more fun for students is a great thing to include in the classroom. I will have students write their ideas individually down on paper because then they won’t be influenced by what others say and they can write down what they really think.

2) List which reading skill/strategy is the main focus of your lesson (select ONE area):

Making predictions as a reading strategy

3) Objective for this lesson (performance, condition, criteria):

Students will make predictions about a text by writing down their ideas on paper and discussing them in a group setting.

4) Materials & supplies needed:

-paper and pencils

-book (“The Mitten”)

5) OUTLINE OF LESSON PLAN:

• Introduction to the lesson

-Today we’re going to do a mini lesson on predictions when reading a story.

-I want everyone to write down what they think a prediction is.

-I will have students read their answers.

-Predictions are guess about what is going to happen.

-I am going to read this story to you and we’re going to pause and you are going to write your predictions down about what you think is going to happen next in the story. Then we will go back and compare what you wrote down with what really happened.

(5 minutes)

• OUTLINE of key events during the lesson

-I will read the story and pause at these places providing them time to write down their predictions:

-I will pause every two pages, because there is always a mini picture before the next two pages of what will be on the next page. This way they can predict what they think will happen with the mini picture and predict how it will be a part of the main picture of the next page.

(10 minutes)

• Closing summary for the lesson

-I will review what prediction means and ask them why this might be useful for them when they are reading and how it might help them comprehend what is going on in the story. I will ask them how they can use this strategy for other stories.

(5 minutes)

6) Ongoing-Assessment:

I will know that my students are progressing toward my identified objective if they understand what a prediction is and are successful at making realistic predictions of what will happen next in the story that they are reading. I will observe the way students read stories in the future and how well they are at making up endings of stories that they are only told the beginnings of.

7) Based on what you know about your focus students, what Academic, Social and/or Linguistic Support will be needed during the lesson?

My focus students will need sufficient time to write what they predict on paper, however, they will need to be challenged, and wasting time and I can’t do its will not be accepted. Also I will be reading the story to them so they can focus on what is happening in the story, rather than struggling through reading. The goal of this lesson is for reading comprehension strategies not reading.

REFLECTION OF LESSON

Since M wasn’t there I did this lesson with J. My CT was doing reading with the rest of the class, and since he needs one-on-one help during this time anyway, she was definitely appreciative that I was going to take him out and work with him. He was very interested in participating and doing the lesson, however sometimes he had a hard time focusing and since we were in the hallway, he was distracted by noises and people walking around. My objective was for him to make predictions about a text but writing down their ideas on paper and discussing them in a group setting. Since I only did the lesson with one student, I didn’t have him write his answers because it was just easier for us to discuss them.

He knew what predictions were but he had a hard time verbalizing a definition so we just talked about it. The strengths of this lessons was that because it did end up just being us two, we could really talk about what was happening in the story and he could point things out without being rude to other students. The weaknesses were that he seemed to get bored and when he had an idea he stuck with it, even if the story had already proved that that prediction wasn’t going to be the case. I just wonder how to make it more interesting for students, and it might be if students are in a whole group setting bouncing ideas off of each other, rather than one student out in the hallway and away from the rest of his classmates who are all reading a different story.